The Chaos That Was
by Cucco of Time
Summary: Creation is coming undone...Enter the Hero of Time. This fic is written based on the assumption that the reader is familiar with OoT. It's narrated from Link's perspective, like in the games. The fic is inspired by the Beta Quest code for Ocarina of Time.
1. Chapter I

**The Chaos That Was**

**

* * *

Chapter I

* * *

**

"Hoot!"

Link turned over in his sleep trying to ignore that annoying hooting sound that he kept hearing. It was morning now; who did this owl think he was?

"HOOT!!!"

"Waah!"

Startled, Link shot out of bed, only to find gravity oppressing his sleepy body...Deciding he was too tired to get up, he crawled back in bed.

Having drifted back to half-sleep, Link began to dream he was flying. He always thought flying would require some sort of effort, but he seemed to be being effortlessly carried by the wind...

Splash!

He was suddenly hurled into a vat of water! He opened his eyes to find himself in the pond in Kokiri Forest. Funny, his dream seemed to have come true. Sopping wet, he trundled home, and climbed the ladder to his tree house.

"…hoot."

"Aaah!"

Link fell to his doom off his tree house ladder. As he looked up from the ground, Kaepora Gaebora, that slightly annoying huge owl that had guided Link in his adventures, was once again, turning his head upside-down, peering at Link from atop the ladder.

"Good to see I finally grabbed your attention, quite literally, actually."

Link then realized what his "flying dream" really had been...He stood there frowning at the brazen bird, who flipped his head right-side-up and blinked unassumingly at Link with a twist of his head.

Link's frown slowly shifted to a smile, then he giggled, then burst out laughing. The old owl joined in the merriment. Really Link was happy to see him; they had become good friends over the years and adventures.

"But really, Young One, this is a grave matter indeed. In fact, it was very difficult for me to reach this place." the owl said with a serious tone. "You see, the fate of Hyrule is at stake, and you, Hero of Time, are the only one who can bring order to the chaos!"

Link glanced around the forest seeing a tranquil, serene environment with little magically-floaty strand things bobbing around. The owl knew what Link was thinking, but continued his diction.

"Something great and terrible has happened, hoot, indeed. The very fabric of space and time itself has been" – POOF!

The owl was cut short by a sudden disruption. The wizened old owl that had been standing there moments before had suddenly been replaced by a little baby owl!

"Hoo." the little owl cooed.

Aww, despite how intensely cute Kaepora Gaebora's new form was, Link knew this was no small matter. It looked like Link was on his own for this quest. He tenderly took the adorable owlet, and placed him inside the house. He quickly gathered some grass, and made a little roost with a bowl of water and a dish of worms. After asking a Kokiri boy to care for the once-ancient fledgling, Link set out from Kokiri Forest hoping to get to the bottom of this mysterious predicament.

Kaepora Gaebora had been starting to say something about time itself. Link had a feeling this was going to involve time travel. He groaned at the thought, thinking back to when he had experienced time being reversed from when he was an adult, everybody's memory but his having regressed to the time of his childhood. Then, of course, there was the Majora's mask ordeal not too long ago where he had been trapped in a time loop, having to reverse time to stall the destruction of the land of Termina by a huge moon crashing into it, in order that he could rescue the land's guardian giants who helped him destroy the evil mask that was possessing the moon. Yes Link was no stranger to bizarre, convoluted time travel, but nothing could possibly prepare him for what he was about to see...


	2. Chapter II

**Chapter II

* * *

**

As Link stepped out of the woods and into Hyrule Field he was met with one of the greatest shocks of his life so far...For the beautiful Fields he had once roamed were dramatically changed: There were evil-looking clouds choking the sky. It was darker than night, and it seemed as though some of the color had been sapped out of the land. It felt as though there were an enshrouding fog all around.

Link thought he heard a horse's neigh echo through the silence, but perhaps it had been his imagination. But now, all around, there was a deathly silence. Link could hear his own breathing echo throughout the suspended air.

Indeed, so distracted was he by the ethereal environment that he failed to notice, until now, that as soon as he set foot out of the hollow log that marked the end of the Forest he was suddenly standing in front of the entrance to Hyrule Castle Town. The drawbridge was up and the torches were lit. Oddly enough, it had been early afternoon when he had left the forest.

...He stood there for a number of seconds, pondering what the heck was going on and what he was to do next. Since he was unable to enter the castle town, he decided to head for Kakariko Village. As he walked his footsteps echoed ominously. He let out a shout just to find out what would happen. The result was that his voice echoed hauntingly, seemingly throughout all of Hyrule Field. A chill running down his spine, he continued on to the village. As soon as he turned the corner to Kakariko, the environment suddenly changed.

It was daytime once more, and the thick, dark clouds that had enshrouded the sky before had been replaced by a thinner, more normal layer of clouds. Though, they still looked evil, Link noted. He then became aware of the robust aroma of smoke caused by something burning. He saw that some of the houses in the village were on fire!

It was just like the day the demon-spirit, Bongo Bongo, had attacked the village. In fact, to Links bewildered amazement, there he was in adult form, standing by the well, not too far from himself! It wasn't just _like_ the day the village had been attacked; it _was_ the day the village had been attacked! For truly, the boy Link stood there watching his adult self shield against the oncoming mass of dark matter sliding toward him. The boy Link was about to intervene, but then thought better of it. After all, he hadn't been seriously hurt, and he had managed to defeat the accursed monster that was about to delve into the dark depths of the Temple of Shadow.

Link tried not to recall the experience of traversing the evil-drenched dungeons that had been used for torture and execution in an age passed. In any case it was better that he didn't interfere with this future that was his past but was now his present once more. Just thinking about it made Link fear the world was going to explode.

Thus he watched the horrifically unreal sight of his adult self being hurled aside by the darkness and bounce gruesomely to the ground. He watched as Sheik ran up to tend to the fallen Link. Little did that him realize that that mysterious ninja was actually Zelda, the princess of Hyrule herself, in disguise. Link quickly dashed behind some houses to the side just before Sheik raised his head in Link's direction.

Sheik was a very alert man, and Link had to be careful to avoid being seen; who knows what disastrous outcome that might entail...Funny thing that Link was thinking of Sheik as a man. Sheik seemed so much like a different person from Zelda that it was still hard for Link to believe that they were one-in-the-same. Really, the persona of Sheik was a man, since Zelda was pretending to be this man, despite the fact that he was actually just a concept she created, Link decided.

He was awakened from his trivial mental debate by a fiery piece of the roof from a house that had once belonged Zelda's childhood nanny, Impa, smashing to the ground right next to him. That house looked like it was about to come down, which he didn't remember happening when he had been here as an adult so long ago. He needed to do something to put out that fire before it was too late! He ran to the door and entered, hoping to perhaps find some water inside.

He stepped through the door to find himself staring at Barinade, a giant parasite that had infected the Zora's lord, Jabu-Jabu, a huge whale of a fish. Link had no time to wonder how in the world he had appeared here in the depths of Jabu-Jabu's body, considering that the beast was preparing to draw forth it's electrical floating jellyfish creatures, Bari, to fry the intruder...


	3. Chapter III

**Chapter III**

* * *

Luckily, Link still had his trusty boomerang with him, and it was the very weapon he had used to defeat this gruesome, Bari-armored, fleshy mass before. He could, no-doubt do it again…except for one teensy little thing.

The door to the room was opening, and Link knew what that meant. He quickly searched around for a place to hide! All he could find were some oddly present pots along the wall, so he dove behind one and curled up as his other self stepped into the room.

Link couldn't help but notice how much younger this self of his seemed; he would certainly experience much before being where he's at today. Link vaguely wondered, once again, how he ended up where he was today, or if it would even be appropriate to say he was anywhere "today". He watched himself battle the Bari-armored, fleshy mass.

Link winced as he foresaw what he remembered was about to happen. Just then, a Bari electrocuted his past self...Wait. Link also remembered what was about to happen next as the creature began rapidly rotating and whizzing around the room.

He leaped out from behind the pot just as his other self was hurled by the spinning beast, shattering the pot behind which Link had been hiding moments before. He somersaulted across the floor and leaped behind another pot in the nick of time as the other him hit the wall, Jabu-Jabu groaning as his tissue blubbered. His past self struggled to his feet and continued the battle.

Eventually, he managed to destroy enough Bari to hack at the body. After laying the final blow, the creature writhed violently, then dissolved into green puddle of ooze. A blue ring of light appeared on the ground with Ruto, princess of the Zora people, sitting in the circle looking quite grumpy. She had been lost and captured by that beast, so she had good reason.

"What took you so long?" she demanded.

She had no concept of the irony of her question.

Link's former self entered the blue portal and the two of them were spirited up and disappeared through the ceiling.

...Well, there was only one way out, so Link would have to follow them. He decided to wait a few minutes to make sure they were gone when he followed, but he had a feeling that might not be necessary...Link entered the portal and was carried up by the blue light.

Sure enough, Link was right...He was suddenly falling to his doom into a void of nothingness! Link screamed in terror as he plummeted to an unknown fate…


	4. Chapter IV

**Chapter IV**

* * *

Link awoke to find himself back in the eerie Hyrule Field. Thankful to have not been trapped in a void of nonexistence, Link got to his feet. Perhaps someone was looking out for him...

Link felt a pang of sadness, missing the old bird that used to help him; now he was a puny pipsqueak in Link's house in the forest...

The Forest! Link immediately rushed back to Kokiri Forest wondering what state it could be in...or whether he'd find it to be where it belongs at all. Link reached the entrance and bounded through, leaving the patter of footsteps echoing throughout the field behind him.

Link could never have expected the sight that lay before him. He was in a barren valley. The hot sun beat down on the rocky ground, and all was still. Standing before Link was a beautiful, green-haired woman.

Link slowly approached her; he was totally oblivious to everything else as he approached, entranced by awe. But when he reached her he saw something was wrong. She looked pale and sickly; her skin looked withered and her eyes had a deadness to them. She was utterly still, standing there disturbingly suspended with a blank look on her face.

Just as Link wondered what was wrong with her a thick, dark, gloppy substance emerged from her. It rushed upon Link, Link jumping back and dodging just in time to escape.

He ran around firing every projectile he had into the glop. But to no avail, for the seeds and nuts and even his boomerang were absorbed by the blob as it relentlessly chased him. As it sludged across the ground the ground cracked and crumbled around it.

Link tried throwing a bomb into the substance. The bomb exploded on impact and shattered the ground below, but as the ground crumbled into dust, the dust was engulfed by the slimy blob and seemed to make it grow.

Deciding there was no other option, Link stopped running and stood there and let the blob bear down upon him. But just when it was about to engulf him, Link tore his sword through the glob with all his might. Thankfully, the goopy mass retreated back...into the woman. The woman began to lose more color and life as it sapped her from the inside.

Link had to stop it, so he began to run toward her, but suddenly stopped and jumped back in horror as his skin grew pale and withered. As he put distance between himself and the woman his body seemed to begin recovering, to his relief. If only there was a way to help her from a safe distance. As Link breathed heavily he felt as though the very air was fading away. If only a fresh wind would blow in this hot, stagnant valley...

Suddenly Link knew what he must do. He ran toward the woman. His body began to wither and wane as he approached the decay that inhabited her, but he kept running. By the time he reached her his body was nothing but a skeleton covered with dry, gray skin. He was ready to panic as he saw his wasted body, but he did what he had to do despite this. He drew forth Farore's Wind and produced a mighty gale. It swept the dark mass out of the woman and seemed to simply blow it into nothing as the blob disintegrated.

As the gale subsided, the woman's life and color returned, and a soothing breeze blew across Link and seemed to carry his illness away as he was restored to health. The woman looked at him and smiled.

"Thank you, Hero," she said. "I am Farore, Goddess of Courage. You have cleansed me of the decay that inhabited me and was preventing me from bringing life to this world. Clearly this evil power has greatly disturbed the flow of time and space, for you stand as the first living mortal to inhabit this realm."

Linked gasped in shock as he realized where he was, or rather when he was.

"You have shown great courage in confronting this death. Truly you are filled with virtue and a touching willingness to self-sacrifice. I can see why you will be granted the Triforce of Courage" she said with a look of warm approval that made Link blush.

"But the evil has not been defeated, and the world is still in chaos. Go Link! You must confront the evil that binds my sisters and allow us to complete the creation of this realm, lest all you know, even your very self, will never exist!"

With that she glowed with a brilliant green light and became enveloped by its radiance. Her body was transfigured into what appeared to be pure gold and she soared into the air. There was a bright green flash that encompassed everything, and then Link could see that grass was growing as an aura of life engendered the world.

As she flew away, Link heard her voice resonate into his mind.

"When death is at hand and hope seems lost remember that my Courage is within you always."

There was another flash, and Link found himself back in Hyrule Field.


	5. Chapter V

**Chapter V**

* * *

Having appeared back in Hyrule Field, Link immediately noticed that the color seemed to have returned to everything, yet the deathly silence, the unnatural darkness, and the evil clouds still remained. Link wondered if Zelda was alright, or what could have become of her...or if she even existed at all. He wished he could get into the Hyrule Castle Town, but the drawbridge was still closed. He then remembered his hookshot that he had acquired in Termina. Using it to latch onto the chains of the drawbridge, he pulled himself up and jumped down on the other side.

Upon landing, he found himself to be in the Goron shop of all places. As Link was marveling at how some places lead places with less rhyme-or-reason than others, the bored Goron Shopkeeper asked him if he was going to buy something or just stand there staring at the wall. Frowning at the pushiness of the shopkeeper he walked out of the shop.

Unfortunately, he instantly found himself frowning at Princess Zelda in her courtyard as another him was dramatically walking up to her. Link recognized this as the moment he was reunited with Zelda after defeating Ganon as an adult and being returned to his childhood. Zelda stared, looked down at the Link at the foot of the stairs beneath her, looked back at the Link at the entrance to the courtyard, and continued staring. The other Link turned around to see that it was himself at which Zelda was staring. He then stared as well.

...This was awkward. The intruding Link stood there blinking stupidly for a few lengthy seconds, turned around, and walked away. He was now stepping out of a doorway into a back alley of Hyrule Castle Town. He wiped sweat off his brow, still recovering from that bizarre incident. Regaining his composure, he headed down the street for the market. Thankfully, he entered the market successfully; annoyingly he entered it through the door to the potion shop. Frustrated by the illogic of it all, he entered the potion shop from which he had just come to find himself in the alley from which he had just left...At least _this_ one was the same both ways. He then went back to the market. Looking around, he saw the Happy Mask Shop.

Link had a whole new perspective on the salesman who owned the shop after encountering him in Termina. Link wondered if he'd be in his shop, and if he might even have some mysterious insight into this situation. Thus Link entered the mask shop and stepped out of a doorway on the other side of the market facing the mask shop across the square in front of him...Nice.

Throwing his arms into the air with disdain, Link marched over and arbitrarily tore open the door to the shooting gallery, but before he could slam the door shut, he found that his hand was grasping thin air and that he was in the courtyard outside the Temple of Time. Perhaps the Temple of Time would have something to do with all this! He ran up the stairs and into the Temple.

Suddenly there was whiteness everywhere that faded as soon as it had appeared. He heard the echoing laugh of Ganondorf, the evil man who had tricked Link into drawing the Master Sword and opening the entrance to the Sacred Realm. And here Link was reliving the shame of that fateful day as Ganondorf's echo subsided, and Link saw the last remnants of a blue light disappear. This blue light had just been enveloping the Pedestal of Time, which held the Master Sword Link's past self had just drawn. But now all was silent and the Temple returned to its usual semi-dark gloom, Ganondorf and Link's past self having fully entered the Sacred Realm.

Link had just relived a painful memory. How useful. He then left the chamber that had contained the Master Sword that he had arbitrarily appeared in, and, walking across the length of the Temple, stepped out of the building...into another void of nothingness.


	6. Chapter VI

**Chapter VI**

* * *

Link awoke in Hyrule Field once more with his head pounding. Apparently that had been another "dead end". Deciding that trying to check up on people was officially useless, Link headed toward Zora's Domain in hopes of finding the goddess Nayru. It seemed somehow appropriate that she might be there. Link echoingly traversed the dark, quiet field, thankful that it at least had its color returned. After swimming across the stream that flowed from Zora's River, Link entered the passage in the cliffside that led to the gorge containing Zora's River.

Upon passing through Link was, as expected, not beside Zora's River as he should have been. In fact he was now standing all the way up at the spring from which the river flowed. This spring was inhabited by the Zora's diety, Lord Jabu-Jabu, the enormous whale of a fish he had been inside earlier.

It was a normal-looking night, but the gruesome sight that lay before Link was quite beyond abnormal. Jabu-Jabu was fused with another copy of himself, thus resulting in a bizarre creature with two mouths and four eyes. Link stared in horror as the grotesque conjoined creature moaned in a pitifully mangled way. By some sick twist of fate, the dark chaos that was scattering the universe had caused two of Jabu-Jabu to occupy the same space and time.

Eventually Link's eyes caught something strange on the ground in front of the Jabu-mass. It was a square, stone pedestal that Link had never seen there or anywhere else for that matter. This mysterious anomaly bore the engraving of an ocarina...Link wondered what this could possibly mean. What did it signify? Was it something that would have existed in Hyrule had history taken a different course? Link was drawn by this mysterious pedestal.

As Link approached it time seemed to slow down. The world seemed to become slow and burdened as he approached the Jabu-Jabus and the mystical pedestal in front of them; it was as though existence itself was weighed and burdened by this rift in the universe. The closer he got, the slower time passed. He was now almost frozen in front of the pedestal. Seconds passed, and then minutes, and Link feared he would be caught in this dead time forever. Finally, Link's feet arrived on the pedestal and he instantly felt the sensation of being sucked into the pedestal. The world seemed to melt around him as he was pulled in, until Link's vision was all a melding blur of smudged colors.

Then the feeling of being pulled subsided as the mess of colors melted away to reveal a beautiful field around him. Link looked around and found that he was actually in Hyrule Field, but it wasn't the eerie dark field in which he had appeared a number of times previously. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The field was bathed in warm sunlight and delicate clouds were drifting peacefully across the ground here and there. It was like a utopian version of Hyrule.

Forgetting all his troubles and duties, Link wandered about the field enjoying the tranquility of it all. Link would never quite know how much time had passed as he bounded about this magical paradise, breathing the sweet air into his weary lungs. Eventually, Link thought of his faithful steed, Epona, and how much she would enjoy these verdant hills. Apparently these contemplations influenced Link's wandering, as he strolled into the entrance to Lon Lon Ranch.

Suddenly, this dream of an experience ended, as Link entered what was clearly a completely different Lon Lon Ranch from the one he had been entering. It was night once more, and the sweet sound of music and celebration greeted Link's ears. All about the ranch there were people and races from all over Hyrule dancing around a multicolored bonfire. Link wondered what all the merriment was about, until he heard a hearty and drawling voice. Amongst the partiers was Talon, the man who owned the ranch, all red-faced and swaying with his arm over his farm-hand's shoulder.

"Now whayr's Mal'ns li'l hero frriend 'hoo freed uss frum the – that tyraniacal G'rudo villin?" he asked nobody in particular. "M' lil' gerl d'serrvs bett'r comp'ny than give singin' less'ns to them oafy carpent'rs. Awhawh'awhawhawhihaw!"

Ignoring Talon's stupid comments, Link almost felt tears coming to his eyes as he realized that this was the celebration that had ensued after he had saved the land from Ganon's reign of evil. They were laughing and crying with joy and thanksgiving for their savior: him. He had never known because he had immediately departed back to his own time after restoring the land. Link smiled as he watched the people celebrate. Eventually he sighed with a bitter-sweet feeling and turned and walked away, leaving the joyful people to celebrate the sacrifice of the hero who was quietly walking away.

It hurt. It really hurt. Another killer headache was ravaging Link as he awakened in that same old accursed Hyrule Field once more. The silent, dark, ominous Hyrule Field to which Link was always bound to return was a depressing contrast the idealized paradise Link had been wandering before.

Wondering how long he had spent during that emotional experience, Link decided he really needed to get back on track. As his eyes absently fell on Death Mountain, he wondered if climbing the mountain would somehow give him a better view of the disjointed Hyrule. Although he knew by now that it was doubtful that that would be possible, he really had no other better ideas. Thus he headed back to Kakariko Village once more.


	7. Chapter VII

**Chapter VII

* * *

**

Upon entering Kakariko Village, it was the same Kakariko-being-attacked-by-Bongo Bongo, that it had been before. In fact, there was the same child Link seeing the same adult Link as had occurred when Link previously visited this point in time. Indeed, Link was looking at his recent self who had wandered to this point in time when he first began this bizarre adventure. This meant that every time Link was to visit an area another Link would arrive in that point in time...As if it hadn't already been weird enough. But sure enough, there was him seeing the adult him and then hiding behind the house so as not to be seen by the adult him.

Realizing that his current self didn't want to be seen by his adult self or his more recent self that didn't want to be seen by his adult self, for that matter, Link high-tailed it over to the gate to Death Mountain, avoiding being seen by anyone. As he ran up the steps and onto the mountain trail, he could hear his adult self getting mauled by Bongo Bongo yet again...

Whether Link was now on Death Mountain trail, he did not know. If he was, it wasn't the one with which he was familiar. He was in a canyon, but the atmosphere was all a thick, dull haze. Visibility was fairly poor in this fog, but Link could see the figure of a person farther down the canyon.

When he arrived at the person, he found it to be a blue-haired woman. She would have a very graceful appearance, but for the horrible position into which her body was contorted. She was utterly frozen with her limbs strewn out in grotesque angles. Her hair and clothing were a mess and she had a bulgy-eyed look of disorientation on her face. Link, knew that this woman must be Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom.

Suddenly, something came tearing out of her body. It was hard to say what it was at all. Darting about in the air above Nayru was what resembled a mess of shifting pieces of vision, like a chunk of the environment had been shattered and was scrambling around. Looking at it was utterly disorienting, as it seemed to contort reality to the point where one's brain couldn't process what it was looking at.

Link wanted to look away from this brain-scrambling mess, but it was rushing toward him with a horrible noise that sounded like every pitch of screeching and droning all tangled together. As Link jumped away, the ground which he had just occupied was shattered as soon as it came into contact with the warped mess. Jagged slices of reality came whirring past Link, grazing his finger and sending it flying away detached from his body. Link screamed and darted after his finger, grabbing it and re-attaching it to his body. Strangely, Link had noticed that he was still able to wiggle and control his finger even as he picked it up to restore it to its hand...

Battling a blob of decay was one thing, but how in whatever was left of the world was Link supposed to battle this reality-scrambler? Link tried his best to battle this mess, but naturally nothing worked. His projectiles were shattered into oblivion whenever they reached the scrambler. So Link decided to go hand-to-...hand, but the result was not pretty.

Link's body was getting strewn everywhere amongst the shards of reality, so that the arm with the sword was futilely waving around fifteen feet from the vantage point of his head, as his feet went gliding away in opposite directions. As Links body-parts dispersed Link began to wonder what the rest of his life would be like scattered across creation...or lack-thereof.

Instinctively, Link's still-nearby arm managed to pull a bomb out of...somewhere. As the bomb exploded, it blasted Link's arm into his head, and Link grabbed his head and tossed it with all his strength away from the scrambler. By some miracle, his head being thrown out of the mess seemed to drag the rest of his body back to it, and everything was pulled back together as he escaped from the proximity of the scrambler.

If only he could find a way to reverse this scrambling of reality and somehow use its power to throw everything back into cohesion. Really that's what he needed to do on a larger scale to restore Hyrule, Link briefly noted. But how to bounce things back together?

Link then had an inspirational idea. He used Nayru's love to create a reflective shield around himself. He then pulled out his trusty boomerang and sent it hurtling at the scrambler. Much to Link's delight, the boomerang dragged off a piece of the crystalline energy shield around him and formed a miniature one around it. Link then simply sat back and watched as sweet justice was served...assuming his plan would work. The boomerang caught the scrambled mass of reality and dragged it right back to Link. Sure enough, as the boomerang returned to Link through the shield the scrambler was smashed into the shield's wall and forcefully bounced away. Every piece of reality went gliding smoothly back into place like an existential jigsaw-puzzle.

Link immediately ran toward Nayru to find her body flowing back into its natural, graceful state like channels of water flowing into one pristine body.

"What a reversal it is for a goddess to be thanking her own creation, but I think this one serves as a rightful one." she said profoundly.

"I have already regained unity with my sister as I speak, but the whisper of the trinity is still made null as the call to the third echoes into darkness... Link. You have manifested great wisdom that guides the courage filling your soul. But time is short, and the great chaos that usurps this realm must be brought to justice. Hurry Link, the hour of doom grows near. Find our sister and restore to her her rightful power that we may condemn the great evil that has invaded our creation."

Nayru glowed and was enveloped by a blue light, and like her sister before her became a brilliant golden figure and ascended into the sky. A flash of blue light filled the world and the dull fog of creation was instantly lifted and the clear blue sky was revealed to the world for the first time.

As Nayru streaked away her departing words permeated Link's mind.

"With the courage to act, go rescue my sister, knowing that even when it seems as though you have lost your way, my Wisdom will be guiding you through it all."

In a flash Link was back in the familiar dark field.


	8. Chapter VIII

**Chapter VIII**

**

* * *

**Although the field Link had returned to was mostly the same, somehow the air seemed clearer. It felt like visibility was better, and that familiar echo was no longer there. Instead, the sound seemed to just fall flat. This was also eerie, considering that it made the mysterious silence that blanketed the land more noticeable.

Now what? Link didn't want to revisit anywhere in northern Hyrule, lest the "cloning" occur again... he didn't want to end up like Jabu-Jabu...With that greatly disturbing notion in mind, he headed far across the field. As he walked he could barely hear the sound of his own footsteps and movement. Even if the air was more clear and normal now, whatever was binding this place was still holding fast; still unnatural clouds buried the sky and the intense darkness and feeling of still remained. Eventually, Link found himself to be headed toward Lake Hylia. Wistfully recalling the smooth, sparkling waters of that place, Link climbed the fence around the entrance and proceeded, knowing he probably wouldn't end up anywhere remotely so pleasant.

Sure enough, he found himself instantly baked by intense, oppressive heat. A pang of remorse that he didn't have a Goron tunic crossed his mind. They protected one from intense heat, and he had used one as an adult to traverse magma-filled, hellish caverns, but they only fit adults and no one would sell him one when he had tried to buy one as a child. Now he was just that again.

As he stared at a huge stone door trying to summon the strength to get out of this place before his blood would boil, he heard a deep, booming shout of surprise from behind him. Startled himself, he jumped to face whatever terrifying beast had made that noise. He found himself looking up at an imposing figure with his fists out in a fighting pose.

"…Link?" inquired the hulk in disbelief.

As it turned out, this was Darunia, leader of the rock-like, mountain-dwelling tribe of Gorons. He was actually a strong ally, and self-proclaimed sworn brother of Link. This was, Link realized, the moment in time in which Darunia had taken it upon himself to defeat the wicked dragon, Volvagia, that was terrorizing and imprisoning the Goron people. Only problem was that Link was supposed to be years older for this reunion. Needless to say, Darunia realized there was something wrong.

"Could this be? You look to be the same tiny lad as last time I saw you seven years ago! But now's not the time to be concerned about appearances. Ganondorf is causing trouble on Death Mountain again! He has revived the evil, ancient dragon Volvagia! On top of that…"

Link would have loved to have stayed and heard the rest of Darunia's impressive, authoritative voice continue its dramatic monologue, but frankly Link was going to burn to a crisp if he didn't get out of there pronto. Thus he abruptly shoved open the door to the dragon Volvagia's lair and dove inside. Horrified, Darunia briefly shouted after him.

"No, Link, WAIT! Leave this to –"

As Darunia's voice disappeared in an instant, Link couldn't help but feel bad for the befuddled behemoth. But the instant relief from the soul-crushing heat far outweighed any pity he felt for his huge friend. Unfortunately, as quickly as his relief from over-heatedness had come it was replaced by a sapping feeling of cold...

He looked around to see that he was in Ice Cavern, that network of frozen caverns he had traversed as an adult to find iron boots, which let him access the Water Temple. Apparently it was "out of the frying pan and into the freezer". He was in the mysterious room at the end of the cavern where he had met Sheik and had found the iron boots. The dark walls appeared to be multi-layered and had strange lights shining through them. Link hadn't been able to access the not-yet-frozen cavern as a child and thus had only been here as an adult. Being a child, everything looked slightly bigger than he remembered.

But apparently this was no time-period Link had ever known, for although the air was frigid and Link's vision was clouded by fog every time he exhaled, this was not exactly the same as the Ice Cavern he had visited. Instead of the treasure chest that had contained the iron boots, there was a strange platform made of red ice. It had small crystalline projections coming out of what looked like a round pedestal of red ice.

Link approached this mysterious structure. As the cold winds howled throughout the cavern, Link once again felt that mysterious awe that he had felt upon seeing the mysterious ocarina pedestal. Although this time, time didn't seem to be slowed, and there were no fused fish from different realities. He compulsively stepped up onto the slightly slippery structure, and once again, the world seemed to melt together around him.

As the smeared world melted away, he discovered himself to be in Hyrule Field. But this wasn't the dark field or the utopian field. This appeared to be a perfectly normal Hyrule Field, just as he was used to before all this disruption occurred. It was morning twilight and the moon in the light-purplish sky was just beginning to sink behind the hills as the light gradually strengthened. As Link watched this beautiful scene, he saw his adult self ride by the hill on Epona with the setting moon in the horizon.

Link remembered these meaningful mornings alone with his horse. It was at a time when the life he knew had vanished in the blink of an eye, and he had awakened seven years in the future, in a Hyrule ruled by Ganondorf. At this time there were soul-searching mornings where Link would wander in the still of the dawn and ponder what had happened to his life and what it all meant.

Despite the sorrowful life into which he had been plunged at that time, Link looked upon these soulful days with the intense tug of bitter-sweet nostalgia. There was something special about those days spent in the future world, finding solace in the simple things that still remained uncorrupted by Ganon's accursed influence.

As Epona finished drinking from the nearby stream, she and the adult Link trotted off into the new day. Link followed at a distance, still savoring these memories. As he passed through the narrow ravine near Gerudo Valley, Link suddenly recalled that Epona had gotten spooked at that time on that very morning. As Link cautiously darted his eyes around the area to see what danger might have alarmed her, Epona unexpectedly looked back. Epona's eyes met with Link's as he stood in the narrow area with nowhere to hide. Spooked, by this strange apparition, Epona neighed and reared up on her hind legs, then set off at a canter into the field with a confused adult Link on saddle. Now he knew what had spooked her that day...

Deciding to avoid any further disturbances, Link headed back down the ravine in the opposite direction. Really, he was figuring, he had nothing to worry about, because he recalled the rest of his morning ride to have been uneventful, which means he didn't have to worry about being seen again now. As he wandered through the short grass, struggling to make sense of what he had just so confidently deduced, he was oblivious to a man-sized hole in the ground and unknowingly stepped right into it, and fell, screaming, to a more-uncertain-than-ever fate...

He suddenly stopped falling and found himself elbows-and-knees on a stone floor with cold water rushing past him. As he instinctively tried to stand up he found that there was a ceiling against his back and couldn't. Now panicking at having gone from free-falling to this claustrophobic situation, he crawled forward and found himself falling into a moving stream of water. As he easily overcame the light current and climbed onto the stone floor beside it, he realized where he was. He viewed his surroundings, and sure enough, there was a side-view of the majestic castle of the royal family of Hyrule. Complete, he noted, with sleeping, middle-aged ranch-owner Talon. He looked a bit younger and more stressed than when Link had last seen him. In fact, Link noted, if awakened he'd be, unlike his party-smitten future self, quite alarmed, and would be tearing off to return to his adorable, but potentially fearsome daughter.

Link decided to let sleeping bumpkins lie this time, and thus headed off toward the castle's gate. Unfortunately, he realized the castle guards doubtlessly wouldn't be too happy to see some kid wandering around the castle. Actually, before this whole shattering of time had occurred, the guards had actually reluctantly allowed him passage, because he was a good friend to Zelda.

Indeed, he and Zelda had grown to be increasingly closer friends after his return from Termina with the Ocarina of Time in hand, his epic, yet painful account of his experiences therein, his failure to locate his lost fairy-friend, Navi. Zelda had believed every word he had uttered, despite the fact that all the amazing and magical masks he had acquired had mysteriously reverted to nothing more than average wooden face-wear . She had been a great comfort after that strange and frightening ordeal.

But getting back to the here and now, Link knew that this was the very day he had first visited the castle, and had evaded all the guards in the process. In any case, he had nowhere else to go, and from a few blunders he had made at that time, he knew that the guards would simply throw him out. With that knowledge he casually approached the guards.

"Hey, you! Stop! You, kid, over there!" the guards shouted as they grabbed him.

They swiftly carried him with ease to the outer gate on the path to the castle. Unfortunately, Link's prediction of casual impunity was horribly, horribly wrong, as the guards hurled Link...into an all-consuming void of nothingness.

Upon awakening on that same spot in Hyrule Field, a headache ravaged Link's skull once again. He pounded his head against the ground in agony, which only increased the pain. Was it just him, or was the pain getting worse with each plummet into nothingness? Come to think of it, shouldn't he be sprawled amongst copies of himself every time he appeared in the field, like when he re-entered Kakariko?

Looking around at the eerie and suspenseful environment, it was easy to conclude that this was the ominous field in which he usually ended up. As his eyes passed over Lon Lon Ranch, he realized that he hadn't actually tried to visit it yet from this version of Hyrule Field. It had been the utopian field that had led him to the celebratory Lon Lon Ranch. Thus he decided to risk venturing there, after fondly recalling the sleeping man he had just seen, and his red-headed daughter. But who was he kidding, he knew full well that he more-likely-than-not would end up in some totally different area. As he read the sign pointing to the ranch, he noted that it was a comfort to see these familiar words still existent in this lifeless version of Hyrule. He then departed from his single-sentenced friend for the darkened ghost of a ranch that lay before him. As he passed through the entrance, he steeled himself for the worst.


	9. Chapter IX

**Chapter IX**

* * *

And the worst was not about to disappoint. Link found himself staring into a weirdly tinged stone passageway from which emerged the smell of decay and rotting flesh, and more strongly still, the feeling of tremendous and undying evil. He was in the entrance to the Shadow Temple.

Link remembered this place as a nightmarish blur of horror, stench, blood, revulsion, and sorrow. If there was ever a time when Link came a hairsbreadth away from forgoing hope and letting himself be consumed by despair and death it was his days here. Truly he had no comprehension of how long he had been here, for it took every fiber of his soul and strength to survive that netherwordly labyrinth. It seemed so wrong that the friendly ranch that belonged to that lovable family should bring him to this conduit to Hades.

Without another thought Link turned to leave the temple, but, unfortunately, he was not only in the wrong place, but at the wrong time. Suddenly, the demon-spirit Bongo Bongo came rushing through entrance. A swarming sea of darkness, hate, and pain came sweeping unavoidably toward him. In the few seconds that ensued, Link considered that perhaps after all he had survived here, death would not be cheated of its payment owed. Perhaps his reckoning was at hand...  
But no! Link had defeated Bongo Bongo before, and he would do it again! The benevolent goddesses were still relying on him, and he was the last hope in creation. Today was not his day to die!

As the storm overtook him, he unwaveringly stood his ground. The twisted spirit swept through, heedless and passed deeper into the temple leaving horrible undead screeches and wailing in his wake. In the spot where Link had been standing was nothing but the dying echo of the demon's rage...  
After the tumult had subsided and the eerie and distant noises returned to normality, Link climbed from the edge of the black pit that existed in the passageway.

He was oddly thankful that that pit existed, because otherwise he would have been swept along with Bongo Bongo back into the depths of that evil lair, and he didn't think he'd have the strength to return this time. With his life so dearly intact, he ran as fast as he could out of that dungeon of death to return to the land of the living.

In extreme contrast, he was now at the fishing pond near Lake Hylia. The weather was beautiful and the trees were in blossom, with pedals whimsically drifting from above. Link could see the backs of two people sitting by the pond, fishing. They looked to be a man and a woman. The man had some sort of baggy green hat on his head, and the woman had an elegant white scarf over her head. She was leaning on his shoulder. They looked like a very happy young couple. Link, not wanting to disturb them, quietly opened the door to the fishing pond, and stepped out.

As he emerged, he found himself in another rather serene environment. He was standing outside of the Forest Temple, and looking down into the Sacred Forest Meadow. It seemed to be twilight, although it was hard to tell in the foggy atmosphere that the forest always had. The sky was a solid light indigo color, but there were little puffs of moisture floating around close to the forest floor. He hopped down from the temple's entrance ledge, and looked longingly at the little tree stump in the ruins below.

In a time past, what seemed like so many years ago, in his first childhood, he had known a wonderful green-haired girl by the name of Saria. She had been his best, and only true friend throughout his childhood. The other Kokiri had never fully accepted him, because he lacked the fairy guardian accompanying each and every Kokiri. And although he was appointed a Fairy when his quest began, he later learned that he was actually Hylian, and wasn't Kokiri at all. But Saria had always been accepting of him regardless of his strange differences.

It was here, sitting on this log, that he had met her after setting out on his quest and returning to the forest. It was here that she taught him her song so that they would never be completely separated. Afterwards she became the Sage of the Forest Temple, and she resided in the Sacred Realm. They had to go their separate ways for the good of everyone.

Sometimes Link almost felt bitter about his destiny. Being the chosen one meant going through pain and sacrifice for oblivious people who never would know the sacrifices he made. But that was one of the few prices to Zelda's gift. When she sent him back to his childhood, she gave him back those lost years, but more importantly his lost friends. It was such a happy time after that when he was reunited with Saria once more. Now he was a child again and could live his happy days with his best friend once more. But he hadn't regained all his friends, and went out on a quest to find Navi. That led him to another strange and emotional experience in Termina...And now this.

He wished he could be back in peace with his friend Saria, but perhaps even he could never really go back to his childhood. Even now he was older than any Kokiri, because they remained eternal children, but Link was on his way to being that same adult once more.  
Now, as he turned away from the strong rush of memories and emotions awakened by that stump he moved down the stairs of the ruins and into the meadow. There was a strange silence and a lack of life and movement in the meadow. Normally this place would be filled with Deku Scrubs, but in this strange purple-lighted version of the meadow there was not even a fairy...

At least he'd see Saria again if he could manage to help Din and somehow Hyrule was restored, but Navi...He may never see her again. Pressing on, he headed toward the signature hollow log that to the Lost Woods, and out of this meadow of memories. Fighting the tears welling in his eyes, he passed through the huge log. He then found himself staring at a huge, exceedingly ugly man.

He quickly recognized this place as the Shooting Gallery in Hyrule Castle Town. Tears still hovering on his eyelids, he was suspended staring at the ugly man, with the man staring blankly back at him.

...Why?

"You gonna' play or what?" the man asked after what seemed like several minutes.

Finally, Link broke away from his stare to awkwardly look around while attempting to regain his composure. He noticed a horse's head mounted above the door to the gallery. Had that always been there? Feeling the eyes of that unreadable, unappealing face boring into his soul, Link turned back to look at him once more. Awkward silence continued. Unable to take it anymore, Link ripped open the door and tore outside.

"Mmm..." the man murmured mysteriously.

Meanwhile, Link was falling into oblivion into a bottomless void. Before he could decide which situation was worse, he found himself waking up with a screaming pain in his temples and forehead. In a pained fury he tore his sword out of its sheath, ran to the sign near the drawbridge, and started hacking it to oblivion.

The innocently-bystanding sign having received its unjust punishment, Link ran out into the field in frustration. He set his mind on his goal of finding Din.


	10. Chapter X

**Chapter X**

* * *

Determined to find the last goddess, Link concluded that the only major place he had not yet gone was Gerudo Valley. Thus, he set off. As he crossed the dark field once more, he felt true sadness for all that had befallen this beautiful land. He dearly missed his friends. All the loneliness of this dark journey came sweeping over him and, despite himself, he cried for all that was lost. He wondered if the baby Kaepora Gaebora was being well cared for, and wished his normal home was still accessible. Who knows if it still existed at all? He wondered if Saria was still existent to miss him, or if Zelda was alright. He would never take his friends and home for granted, now more than ever. As he climbed the dusty hill to the canyon passage leading to the valley, he recognized that this whole ordeal may perhaps have some higher purpose, and that he had been able to revisit past times in his life and perhaps learn something deeper about his past. How come he only seemed to have visited his past? Perhaps it wasn't meant to be that he should see his future... Suddenly, he recalled the couple he had seen at the fishing pond. Thinking back, they now seemed somehow familiar to him, but he didn't know why. Somehow, the thought of their happiness together encouraged him as he pressed on in his dire quest.

Upon entering the path through the rocks that led to Gerudo Valley, Link found himself to be standing in a brownish, dusty haze. The air was so extremely thick with dusty fog that Link could barely see hand in front of face. Stooping to the ground he found that he seemed to be standing on a rough chunk of rock. As Link stepped forward he felt the sensation of falling to what should be the ground, but his feet were still on a solid surface. Crouching down and spreading his arms far apart and toward the ground, he found that he was standing on a roughly round piece of rock. He then began running around to discover that this little boulder was disorientingly the center of gravity. As he stood on this planetoid, another chunk of rock smashed past his own and jerked it frighteningly. As another one drifted by, this time without touching his, he noticed a person pinned around part of a slightly larger rock. He jumped toward it and managed to get pulled from the gravity of the previous one to the one with the person. He crouched down to analyze this person to find that it was a noble-looking woman with bright red hair. She appeared to be asleep and was lying on her back on the rock mass. Due to the approximate roundness of the chunk, her body was wrapped around the surface in an uncomfortable-looking arch. She looked utterly helpless, pinned and unmoving on this jagged boulder...Link had found Din. As if responding to this fact, another mass began predictably to emerge from her body just like the other two. As it flickered into the air, Link found this one to be a ball of black fire. Instead of emitting light it seemed to emit darkness, and had a glow of darkness around it. Link could suddenly feel his energy being taken away, as though it were sucking the energy from him as its fuel.

Being sapped by the parasitic anti-flames, Link jumped with all his might away from the black fire. Floating in space for a moment he got caught in the gravity of another rock and pulled onto it. As he vainly attempted to peer through the murk of the air, the black flames tauntingly swooped with intense speed and swiped a bit of Link's energy, then disappeared back into the brown fog. As this process was repeated and Link's fatigue was hastened, Link wished his eyes could somehow penetrate this debilitating atmosphere. He needed an eye of intuition...an eye of truth! He pulled out the magical Lens of Truth and peered through the eye of the lens.

Looking through the eye, Link could see all the various boulders nearby, spinning aimlessly throughout the brownness. He could also clearly see the black fire and the energy that fueled it being sucked from Din and himself when it neared him. Armed with this sight, he was able to jump from rock to rock and avoid the draining swoops of the creature. Link saw that the inferno was growing as it sucked the seemingly endless energy from the sleeping goddess, soon enough it would completely engulf her and she would disappear into the flames of darkness. How much energy could this thing consume? As Link looked at the face, although completely frozen, of the deity-woman, it felt as though she were making a face of acknowledgment as Link was given the idea that would defeat this fire of darkness. It wanted energy, so that's what it was going to get!

Link fired a barrage of Deku nuts at the fire in quick succession. As the energy of the flashes went rapidly into the flames, Link finished the assault with a bomb to boot. As the flames roared higher into the air and became stretched and expanded, Link jumped to the dark flames and with the last of his instantaneously-consumed energy, he summoned Din's Fire. As the righteous flames expanded in a sphere around him they and the black fire engulfed each other and the black fire exploded in a flash of darkness and was strewn away, burning itself out into nothing.

Link jumped up in surprise as the sleeping Din instantly leaped onto her feet.

"What charisma!" she shouted with a look of triumph burning in her eyes. "And from such a tiny mortal," she said squinting her eyes in an endeared manner. "You proved to have an undefeatable passion that excels your spirit beyond its limitations! I, Din, the goddess of Power, bestow my approval! You have armed your courage to will and your wisdom to know, with the power to do. You have truly balanced the spirits of the trinity within yourself, and you are pure in spirit!...Hmm, and quite a handsome creation, I might add, perhaps I should check back on you in a few of your years..." she said with playful smirk.

Was it just him or was the mythical goddess of Power flirting with him?

"But the battle isn't over yet and the hours are numbered before this great evil wreaks its devastating final assault. Come on, Link! Kick this abomination to oblivion!" she said with a spirited laugh.

She then began to be surrounded with a red glow. Just before her face was enveloped, Link thought he saw her wink at him. She then became gold and in a red flash of light the earth appeared around Link. The fog cleared to be a lighter dull mist, and Link could see the newly-formed earth all around him.

Din's voice then boomed in his mind.

"When your mortal being seems to fail, keep fighting with my divine Power!"

Then, with simultaneous flashes of green, blue, and red, Link was brought to the threshold of the heavens in the sky, and the three goddesses appeared around Link: Din, Nayru, and Farore.

"The chaos that afflicts us goes farther back, to the dawn of creation, to undo this realm." Din proclaimed.

"Indeed, even now it moves toward the time of our first descent from the heavens." Farore continued.

"You, the chosen hero amongst creation, must destroy this anti-creation. This may be difficult to understand, but it is your divine destiny to redeem your realm. You will not be alone. Though we shall depart from this realm we will grant you the essence of our Courage, Wisdom, and Power."

Then they floated above Link into a triangular formation, Din as the top point, Nayru as the left point, and Farore as the right point.

They all said in unison "Chosen mortal! We grant you, and all of this realm the Sacred Triangles, the Triforce!"

They became transfigured once more and, Din going straight, and the other two diagonally, the golden figures ascended, a ray of correspondingly-colored light trailing each, and converged, disappearing into the heavens. At the point where they had converged, the beams of colors met and combined to form a brilliant gold light. In a single golden beam of light it shot down to Link and formed, as pure and glowing as the transfigured goddesses themselves, three golden triangles: the Triforce.


	11. Chapter XI

**Chapter XI**

* * *

In utter awe of the majesty and glory of the Triforce, Link acknowledged the fact that he was living the creation story, the most ancient legend in the world. There lay the Triforce before him, as Link stretched forth his hand, the Triforce of Courage on his right hand resonating with a fierce beam of golden light. In this threshold to the realm of the gods he touched the sacred triangles. The triangles began to spin faster and faster, until they rocketed into Link's hand, leaving all three glowing brightly on it.

Then, after a flash of golden light, the sky became darker, and ethereal rain seemed to fall from the heavens. Link realized that he had been transported to the point in time when the goddesses first were to descend upon this realm and create Hyrule. But directly in front of Link lay a void of nothingness. It could only be described as such. It was much like the nothingness into which Link had sometimes fallen, only this seemed like more of a physical manifestation of nothingness, if this could be possible. A voice came from the nothingness. It was as indescribable as the nothingness itself, but Link thought he could make out a word.

"Un…do…"

Then, knowing what he must do, Link prepared himself, thrust his Triforce hand out in front of him, and charged forward. The Nothingness charged toward Link as well. As Link rocketed forward his hand became like a meteor burning through the atmosphere, but with golden light instead of fire. The two were on a collision-course at equal speed. In an epic clash the final struggle between creation and destruction commenced, and the heavens were shaken as the two collided.

Suddenly, Link found himself standing in what appeared to be the cosmos themselves. Standing before him was what was almost a mirror image of himself, but made of nothingness. Behind Link was an awe-inspiring array of stars, clusters, and nebulae. Behind the anti-Link was a black hole, consuming all time and matter. The two drew their swords...So it all came down to an existential sword duel. But although this climactic clash manifested itself as a swordfight, it was actually more about the willpower of either individual, represented by a cosmic duel. Link's sword had become a golden blade, contrasting the blade of blackness the anti-Link possessed.

The two ran toward one another and hurled their swords over their shoulders in an almighty swing. As the swords collided, the universe seemed to clash with them. The two swung their weapons and every time they did so, the light and stars of the celestial bodies rushed upon the darkness and nothingness of black holes, and vice-versa, the universe itself following the sword strokes of the weapons.

The battle commenced for what seemed like eons as the powers of existence and nonexistence fought for victory. It seemed to be a completely equal match, and Link could barely maintain this equality; soon Link would fall, the last hope for the universe dying with him, leaving the universe to be undone. How could Link defeat a being of equal power to that of himself who's only purpose was to cause end?

Then Link knew what he must do. Fighting every instinct he had, Link ceased his assault and allowed himself to be attacked, his opponent throwing him to the ground. As the anti-link lifted its sword high to lay the final blow, Link mustered all the strength he could draw and thrust the golden blade into the anti-Link.

...But it was a false victory. The Nothingness suddenly spilled out of the anti-Link and spread up Link's arm. Soon enough, all but his head was consumed in the Nothing. The stars and colors were being consumed by the black hole at the same time until only one star remained. At that moment Link wished upon the Triforce he held. He wished for the chance to see his loved ones just one more time. He wished that the beauty and wonder of creation wouldn't be unmade into eternal oblivion. He wished that this chaotic power of nothingness would become what it should be: nothing. He wished that, by the holy power of the goddesses, the chaos that was would be no more.

At that moment, a beam of golden light burst forth from his face. Soon the light began bursting from his body in other places and tearing straight through the Nothingness. Finally, the light exploded outward, shattering the Nothingness from the inside and banishing it from this realm.  
All of a sudden, Link found himself back in the threshold of the heavens. He looked in his hand to see a little orb of nothingness the size of a marble. Using nothing more than the muscles in his hands, he crushed the orb in his fist to oblivion.

The three golden goddesses appeared from the divine realm and descended upon the chaos that would become Hyrule. The Nothingness had been destroyed, transcending time and space, thus undoing all the damage it had caused. Link watched as Hyrule was created, unhindered, as it was supposed to be; as it had been...

Link awoke peacefully in his bed. As he awoke he heard the voices of the goddesses.

"Blessed Hero...Cherish your life in this world you helped create!"

Link smiled and got out of bed. He would do that indeed. But first he had to see his old friend. He walked outside his house and scanned the area from atop the ladder for Kaepora Gaebora. He was nowhere to be seen. With a mixture of confusion and disappointment, Link turned to enter his house.

"...hoot."

"Aaah!"

Link fell to his doom off his tree-house once more. The pesky owl was perched atop the door to his house.

"Great Hero chosen by destiny!" the owl said dramatically "You have my eternal gratitude" he said with a bow. "...Those worms were delicious."

Hours passed as Link related the tale of his adventure to the old owl, who listened with quiet fascination. When Link had finished, the owl spoke.

"Excellent, Link!" the owl responded. "...But you failed to mention the part where a goddess flirted with you."

Link stood there aghast as the jolly bird flapped his wings and soared off.

"Hoohoohohohoot!..."

Saria, who had just emerged from the Lost Woods, gave Link a curious look as the old owl shrunk into the horizon, which Link returned with a meaningful smile.  
And so it was that the chosen hero preserved the creation of Hyrule. The creation was paradoxically responsible for its own creation, and fate's mysterious circle was complete.


End file.
